1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a product presentation robot, particularly to a mobile robot capable of explaining at least one among the performance, specifications and operation of a product such as a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
An auto salesperson spends many hours studying facts and figures regarding the performance, specifications and other features of a large number of models, is regularly required to commit new data to memory to keep abreast of frequent model changes, and often does not have enough time to deal with customers owing to insufficient staffing. The same will be applied to a salesperson who sells products other than vehicles.
On the other hand, recent years have seen the development of various robots designed to interface with human beings. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2003-239959 teaches a pet-like robot that rides in a car together with the driver and responds to various sensed driving conditions so as to encourage safe driving, such as by acting bored to make the driver aware that he or she has been driving for a long time or by acting frightened when the driver brakes suddenly. Also, as taught by Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2003-326483, for instance, various mobile robots have been developed that are capable of carrying out tasks in a human living environment.
However, the prior art mentioned in '959 is limited to keeping a driver amused and does not help to reduce the burden of an auto salesperson.